Van Aert wins final stage as Pogacar seals Tour title

Pogacar has now won seven of his 10 races this year, finishing on the podium on the other three

Wout van Aert denied Tadej Pogacar a prestigious win on the final stage of this year's Tour de France as the Slovenian secured his fourth Tour title.

Reigning champion Pogacar had a lead of more than four minutes heading into the final day, when only the stage win would be contested in Paris.

With rain falling in the French capital, the 26-year-old established himself in a six-man breakaway during a thrilling finale on the same circuit used for last year's Olympic race.

But Van Aert attacked on the third and final climb to the Sacre Coeur Basilica, up wet cobbles on the Montmartre hill, and stretched his lead over the final 5km to clinch victory on the Champs-Elysees.

After a frustrating race, the versatile Belgian star was able to claim his 10th stage win in the Tour - and his first since 2022 - crossing the line 19 seconds before a group of three riders, the latter being Pogacar.

As Pogacar finished he put a hand in the air to celebrate going level with British rider Chris Froome for all-time Tour de France wins, with only Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain above them (five wins).

Pogacar has also become the first reigning world road champion to win the Tour since Greg LeMond in 1990 and secured the King of the Mountains title for a third time.

Two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard finished the race four minutes 24 seconds behind Pogacar, with Florian Lipowitz third in the general classification standings.

That meant that for the first time there was a repeat of the podium for last month's Criterium du Dauphine, regarded as the final Tour warm-up.

Oscar Onley was fourth on the 22-year-old Scot's second appearance in cycling's biggest race, while Lipowitz, 24, was the best young rider and fellow Tour debutant Jonathan Milan, who is also 24, topped the points classification standings.

Wout van Aert also won on the Champs-Elysees on the final stage in 2021

How was the race won?

Pogacar's fourth Tour de France win continues a remarkable 12 months for the Slovenian superstar, in which he has established himself as the dominant figure in modern cycling.

After regaining the Tour title from Jonas Vingegaard last year, Pogacar won four of his final five races in 2024, becoming the road world champion for the first time last September.

Then over the start of this year, Pogacar won six of his nine races before the Tour. He won both of the stage races he entered - the UAE Tour and Criterium du Dauphine - and he won four of the seven one-day classics he contested, finishing on the podium in the other three.

That meant that he was not just top of the UCI rankings coming into the Tour, he had twice as many points as his closest rival, Remco Evenepoel.

Over the past five years, Pogacar and two-time Tour winner Vingegaard developed one of the greatest rivalries in sport, but anyone hoping for another epic battle for the yellow jersey over the past three weeks were left disappointed.

Even after Pogacar won stage four, Vingegaard was only eight seconds behind, but the Dane shipped over a minute on the following day's time trial, when Pogacar claimed the overall race lead for the first time.

Pogacar not just survived his first major test during stage seven, he clinched victory on the iconic Mur-de-Bretagne climb to regain the 'maillot jaune'.

Vingegaard stuck with Pogacar over the next few days, with Ireland's Ben Healy spending two days in the yellow jersey, although there was one moment of panic for Pogacar on stage 11.

He fell 4km from the line but his GC rivals sportingly chose not to attack, allowing Pogacar to catch up and finish in the peloton.

They may have rued that decision the following day, as Pogacar triumphed on this year's first summit finish and first true mountain stage to put another two minutes into Vingegaard.

He would remain in yellow for the rest of the Tour, winning the following day's mountain time trial for his fourth stage win of 2025 and his 21st overall.

Visma-Lease a Bike were clinging to hope they could crack Pogacar once the race reached the Pyrenees and the Alps, but he was imperious in the mountains as the only time Vingegaard gained time was two seconds on stage 19, when he was resigned to finishing as the 'best of the rest'.

Vingegaard battled on gamely, but Pogacar has gone to another level over the past year, and time is on his side as he aims to become the greatest cyclist of all-time, not just the modern era.

Tadej Pogacar previously won the Tour in 2020, 2021 and 2024

Final stage results

1. Wout van Aert (Bel/Visma-Lease a Bike) 3hrs 7mins 30secs

2. Davide Ballerini (Ita/XDS Astana) Same time

3. Matej Mohoric (Slo/Bahrain Victorious)

4. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Emirates-XRG)

5. Matteo Jorgenson (US/Visma-Lease a Bike)

6. Matteo Trentin (Ita/Tudor)

7. Arnaud de Lie (Bel/Lotto)

8. Kevin Vauquelin (Fra/Arkea-B&B Hotels)

9. Mike Teunissen (Ned/XDS Astana)

10. Dylan Teuns (Bel/Cofidis)

Final general classification standings

1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Emirates-XRG) 76hrs 32secs

2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Visma-Lease a Bike) +4mins 24secs

3. Florian Lipowitz (Ger/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +11mins

4. Oscar Onley (GB/Picnic PostNL) +12mins 12secs

5. Felix Gall (Aut/Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +17mins 12secs

6. Tobias Johannessen (Nor/Uno-X Mobility) +20mins 14secs

7. Kevin Vauquelin (Fra/Arkea-B&B Hotels) +22mins 35secs

8. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +25mins 30secs

9. Ben Healy (Ire/EF Education-EasyPost) +28mins 2secs

10. Jordan Jegat (Fra/TotalEnergies) +32mins 42secs